In Fast food, French style, a reader asked “why not pack a lunch from home?”. And here’s a story illustrating why..
Packing a lunch is quite common in the US but not so in France. I remember once I was chatting with a coworker who brought homemade sandwiches but he ate them outside on a bench, alone. I thought it’d be better for team building if he ate with the rest of the team so I asked him about it and he said he brings his own lunch to save money. If you read the previously mentioned blog, you’d know that a lunch in the cafeteria is subsidized by the company and ends up costing 3 euros / $4 but what I didn’t mention is that if you eat at the client site and cannot benefit from the company’s canteen you get a “ticket restaurant”. A “ticket resto” as they’re usually called is a voucher good at restaurants and some grocery stores. The amount is usually the same as the company’s contribution for the cafeteria, 4.20 euros (about $5.50).
So I say “Why don’t you eat your sandwich in the canteen with us?” and he said “Quelle honte!” (“How embarassing!”).
Now as I’m writing this my wife tells me about her father (who’s not French BTW) who brought his lunch to work when my wife was young. He did it to save up the ticket resto so that on Saturdays he could take the family out to a restaurant. I like that story, because it’s sweet and if you are French you appreciate the sacrifice. And that’s no doubt what my coworker was doing, so he could take his girlfriend out on the weekends.
In the US, most of the places I worked didn’t have canteens and I always brought my lunch (Budget Gourmet & Michelina’s baby!). Eating out was a special occasion. Here in France, I’ve never seen someone eat a homemade lunch at work. If they do, they hide it well.
One more story, this one from the US. I had a friend who “had” to bring his lunch every day. For financial reasons? Not really, or at least not directly. His wife was making his lunch and I’m not sure he had a choice. So on the days that we went out to a restaurant, he’d throw away the lunch his wife made and eat with us at the restaurant!
(I hope she’s not reading this.)
Hopefully that’s some food for thought. If you have comments, ideas, or questions, just post’em here!
Keeping in mind that most likely if someone “packs” a lunch they are probably (1)on a special diet or are very picky about their food, (2) maybe saving their “tickets” to use on the weekend with their family, or (3)maybe they just don’t want to eat with the others for whatever reason. You told the story of your father in law and you like that story because it’s sweet and “if you are French you appreciate the sacrifice”. Sorry bud, but WE all can appreciate the sacrifice, we don’t have to be French. Compassion and understanding is universal.